Sweet Georgia Brown

Sweet Georgia Brown

The Story of African American WAC Women’s Army Corp.
Stationed During World WAR IIProduced & Directed by Lawrence E. Walker and Renardo Mack

This documentary is a result of my interest in the subject of African-American Women who served in the military during World War II. I recognized the experiences these women shared were different from those of African-American Men and/or Euro-American Women and Men. While completing my research at the National Archives, Library of Congress in Washington DC and Rutgers University. I read two books one written by Brenda L. Moore, titled “To Serve My Country, To Serve My Race” about African-American Women during World War II and another by Charity Adams Earley’s “One Woman’s Army.” Brenda L. Moore noted the absence of African-American Military Women from all of the major studies. It was as though these women did not exist. There has long been a need for a systematic study or documentary of African-American women’s role in National Defense. Although a couple of books and a few articles have been written recently on this topic, research on black women’s contributions in military remains very limited. But Ms. Moore’s book comes to life.

The purpose of this documentary is to examine the consequences or changes in race and gender policies for the status of African-American Women in the military during World War II. This is a logical period to study, because it marked a significant turning point for African-American Women in the US Armed Services. During this era, opportunities for women in the military expanded, such as; what social, political and organization factors influenced change in racial and gender policies in the military during World War II; what were the unique factors associated with being African-American Women in the Armed Services at that time and how did this experience affects their lives. These and other questions will be discussed, at length, in this documentary.

I am deeply indebted to the former member’s of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion for their willingness to be interviewed and Brenda L. Moore book. I am sincerely grateful to Gladys Carter, Mary Copeland, Estelle Terry, Janice Taylor, Queen Esther Woods and Martha Putney for all of their contributions they made to this documentary. They were generous with their time and in some cases shared their treasured scrapbooks containing photographs, official military documents with raised seals and written memoirs.